


Rin Ran.

by SleepingReader



Category: Irish Mythology, Original Work, Scottish Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 07:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11504160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingReader/pseuds/SleepingReader
Summary: Rin runs. But why?A prompt from Empty Infinity (Just_Your_Average_Box_Fan). Their prompt was: "A little boy runs away into the forest and finds a giant circle of large rocks, with about a foot in between each one. He decides to investigate."





	Rin Ran.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Empty Infinity (Just_Your_Average_Box_Fan)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Your_Average_Box_Fan/gifts).



Rin ran. While he did, he vaguely remembered one of his books at school. The simple books, that went "Sam ran to Flo. Flo said Hello Sam. Sam said Hello Flo. Sam and Flo are friends." Rin knew the books by heart. Miss Gracie, his teacher, had said that Rin could soon start the Bigger books, like Winnie the Pooh, and the Wind in the Willows. He had been proud that day. 

As he ran, his puffy grey coat went fluff-floof. Mom had made the coat for him. There were many pockets, and it was always nice and warm.  
He could hear his footsteps. His dusty blue sneakers on the dusty brown trail made a noise like rip-rap, rip-rap, rip-ran, rin-ran, Rin Ran. Rin ran. 

Why did he run? Because Mom had. Dad said that Mom had ran away. Rin always had been curious about running away. Miss Gracie had said that the world was round, so Rin didn't understand how Mom could have ran away without coming back. After all, if you walk around the world, you have to come back, right? And so Rin ran. Because he knew he would come back. 

His footsteps changed from rin-ran to crish-crush. There were leaves on the floor, so that meant Rin was in the Forest. He knew that some people called the Forest "park". But to his 6 year-old eyes, it was a Forest, waiting to be explored. Rin and his friend Bailey would sometimes explore the Forest together. But never without a grown-up present. And they would never, ever, go to The Dark Part. People said that there were Bad Things. Or sometimes Bad People. They were never quite sure. What made a person bad? Bailey's Mom had once talked about "Scary Men and Worse." But how could you know what was in there if you had never been! Rin would just have to be brave. Brave like his Mom. And he wasn't scared. Because he knew he would come back. So Rin ran.  
Rin ran.

And then Rin stopped. He was in The Dark Part. It did look darker. Like the movie he and his dad had watched some days ago. What was the name again? Oh, right. Snow-White. Rin hoped he would not happen upon a little cottage full of small men, because he didn't want to do chores today. He just wanted an adventure. He looked around. Sure, it was the dark part, but he was also quite sure the dark part didn't deserve the capital letters that made it sound Important. He decided to walk a bit because his side ached from the running. He was feeling pretty proud of himself, running all the way to the Forest. The leaves went crish-crush. Somehow, the smell of autumn in the air was tinged with something else. Something different. Like their rocky backyard smelled after rain. Like wet stone. But also something else different. He decided to follow his nose.

The rocks extended past the sky. Okay, maybe they didn't, but they were really tall anyway. Eight big rocks, standing in a circle. Rin thought that he would easily fit between them. But what did they do? Why were they all wet?  
If Rin was wondering why he wasn't scared of the rocks at all, it didn't show on his face. He peeked through the gaps in the rocks. Water glistened and sloshed gently against the rocky sides. 

A swimming pool! Rin was delighted to find such a spot in his Forest. A swimming pool, all to himself! He was the best swimmer in the class, everyone said so. He had all his diplomas already, and they hung above his bed. But he had never swum in a forest pool before! He waited no moment to take off his blue dusty shoes, sit on the edge, and dip his bare feet into the water. Slish-slosh, went his feet. But Rin knew that he wanted more. He knew that he wanted to go into the pool. And so he did. Neatly folding up his clothes behind him, like Miss Gracie had taught him. He kept his puffy grey coat on, though. Rin thought the air in the coat might help him float.  
He saw there was a small stone staircase where he stood. That was nice. That way he could get out better. Not like the poor people in his friend Bailey's computer game, who sort-of died when they went into the water without a staircase.

Rin went into the water. The water felt weird! It was salty and it felt like he was floating! His curly hair flattened against his head, and every single muscle in his body relaxed. It was as if he was finally okay. As if Mom running away wasn't that bad, and as if Dad hiding in his study wasn't that sad. He sighed. He pulled his coat tighter around him. The coat was warmer now it was in the water. Rin flexed his fingers. He straightened his arms. He put his feet together, like his friend Bailey always did if Bailey wanted to pretend to be mermaids. Mermaids had never felt right to Rin, though. Why be half of something when you can be whole of another?  
Rin's coat flowed around him. It was warm and nice and it now reached to his toes. He giggled. His toes looked like flippers. To be honest, his hands also sort of looked like flippers. The coat-sleeves had gone over his hands as well. He wondered what would happen if he put his hood on. He did so. 

And then the water wasn't weird anymore. The water was simply home. He took a deep breath and dived. His grey coat fitted around him like a skin. It was a skin. Rin's whiskers detected the tunnel to the sea. His flippers didn't make any sound underwater, and Rin found that he liked that.  
And Rin swam. Rin swam.

One day. One day he would come back. Rin would come back for Dad and Bailey. But he didn't think Mom would. Rin's Mom had been a seal in the river. A real seal. Almost a river herself. And rivers just ran to the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Once again, thank you for reading and liking and enjoying my stories. I really hope you like this one! I tried to write from the perspective of a six-year old. I hope I've done a good job.


End file.
